Tips To Grow Cherry Plants

Growing cherries in your garden can be a real treat to the eyes. The small red cherries hanging from the trees can add colour to the natural beauty of your garden. You can add this juicy fruit in your summer or fall garden. Whichever season you plant cherries, they will grow. You can either grow them in the garden soil or in a pot. If you want to include the sweet and juicy mini-fruit in your garden, check out simple gardening tips to grow cherries.

Tips to grow cherries in your garden:

Planting: You can either use cherry seeds or buy a sapling. However, cherry seeds are best as they are not effected by pests. As fall is coming, you can sow the cherry seeds now so that it germinates by spring. Do not just rely on one cherry seeds. Take out seeds from half a dozen cherries. Wash them and refrigerate for 6-8 weeks. Make sure the packet has small holes to let air enter inside. Take out the seed and wash in water. After defrosting, germinate the seeds in the garden soil or pot.

Perfect place: Make sure you plant the cherry seeds in a place where there is adequate sunlight. The plant should get at least 5-6 hours of direct sunlight. Cherry plants can grow in any type of soil. Just make sure that the soil is not soggy or else the plant can damage. If you have planted the seed in a temporary place, you can transplant it after the seedlings to another place after the seeds start to sprout. Make sure that the plants are at a distance of 6 inches.

Brown rot: Sweet cherries are especially susceptible to diseases such as brown rot. If the flowers turn brown and the plant starts to dry, you can be sure that your plant has been attacked by brown rot disease. Make sure that the soil is clean. Remove dried leaves, fallen cherries from the ground as they are home to diseases and pests. You can also spray sulphur. It is an organic method to control brown rot. Spray sulphur when the flower buds turn pink, when the flowers are open and when the leaves fall.

Watering: Give sufficient water to the cherry plants as they can become soggy if the soil is moist. You can water the seedling on alternate days. If you have planted the seed in pot, water it small amounts on alternate days. If you have planted in the garden soil, make sure the plant gets sufficient water to grow. Ideally you should water the plant when the soil becomes dry. If the soil turns from dark to light brown, you should water the plant.

Pruning: This is very important to grow and care for the cherry plants. If you do not prune the cherry plants, they can suffer from brown rot. It is very easy to prune cherry plants or trees. After the tree is in the soil for an year, you can prune the plant. You can prune the cherry plant during winter too. Prune in the horizontal fashion to foster fresh growth. You can prune the cherry plants annually to allow new branches to grow and also avoid them from brown rot.

The cherry trees will take around 6-8 years to grow fruits and once it does, you can enjoy the home grown fruit.